Privacy policy

What Information do we collect?

In line with common practice, when you visit Europeana website and when you register with us, we record and store some information about you. In some cases we process this information in order to better understand our users and their needs. This is done to improve the content and the usability of our portal and the services we offer. However, Europeana.eu recognizes the importance of privacy to users of the Europeana.eu portal; consequently we handle such personal information with care.

Please read our Privacy Policy Statement to find out what information we log and how we use it. We collect the following: Log Files, cookies and information that we explicitly ask you to provide about yourself upon registration or upon using any electronic forms of communication with Europeana.eu staff.

Log Files and Cookies

When you visit Europeana.eu, your requests and actions are automatically logged on our server. Log files contain information such as your IP address, the date and time you accessed the website, the pages you requested for viewing, etc. Log files do not contain any personal identifiable information about you.

Cookies are small amounts of information sent from a web server to your browser and stored on your computers hard-drive. They contain information about the internet sites that you have visited. Europeana.eu uses cookies to recognise you and your access privileges. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can usually change your browser settings to prevent this (although you might not have access to the full functionality of the website, such as the language settings you might have chosen).

Europeana.eu collects or logs cookies and information about its users and processes this information to produce usage statistics. By processing such information we are trying to identify user profiles and usage habits to improve the content and services we offer according to users needs. Log files analysis are also used to inform Europeana.eu partner libraries about digitisation priorities based on user preferences. These aggregated data do not contain information from which individuals can be identified. They are used strictly for the following purposes:

To monitor and to better administer traffic to the website.

To assess and improve usability, services and content.

To identify technical shortcomings and to troubleshoot.

To develop personalised services.

To develop efficient marketing tools.

Registered users data and data from other online forms

When we ask you to register, we ask you to voluntarily supply some personal information about yourself. Identification of users allows us to provide personalised services on the portal. Currently the following options are offered: to save favorites or session query history for referencing at a later date. We intend to expand these services to offer more personalized possibilities to the users, such as: to save selected collections for use at a later date or to receive e-mail alerts about new collections added which might interest them.

Through the use of any electronic form on our website (feedback form, newsletter subscription, report a link) you agree to supply some minimum personal information (namely name and e-mail address). We may use this information to reply to you about the issue involved. Your personal information will not be used for direct mailing or for other reasons than to answer your request.

Data Protection

Europeana.eu respects your privacy and seeks to protect your personal data. We do not sell, trade or rent the information we get from you on this site to others. Sometimes, we collaborate with public organisations such as universities that conduct research on our behalf on usage patterns and behaviour to help us improve the content and the services we offer. In these cases we do not disclose to them personal information (e.g. names or addresses).

Europeana.eu takes all necessary measures to protect the data from un-authorised access and use in a way other than that stated in the Privacy Policy. Europeana.eu is hosted by SARA in The Netherlands and therefore uses the systems and security in place for this public institution.

The data are stored for as long as they are useful for administrative reasons. Non-personal data may be stored indefinitely as research material.

Please note: Under law, we may be required to disclose the information that we log to the appropriate legal authorities.

About this Privacy Policy Statement

This Site may contain links to other web sites that are beyond our control. This privacy policy applies solely to the information you provide while visiting this Site. Other web sites to which you link may contain privacy policies that are different from this privacy policy.

The current privacy policy statement is in accordance with the Dutch Personal Data Protection Act (Wet Bescherming Persoonsgegevens).

Any changes to Europeana.eu privacy policy will be published on this page.

Questions, Complaints, and Dispute Resolution

By using our website you consent to the terms of the Privacy Statement hereby described. However, you have the right to prevent the use of your personal data for personalised services and marketing as well as to request not to be further contacted by us. If you wish to be informed about the personal data collected about you, or to have this data corrected or removed, or have any other question with regards to this statement, please contact Europeana.eu.

Date of creation of the Privacy Statement: 30 September 2008 Last amendment: 30 September 2008

Feedback Form

If you encounter any problem using this site or wish to make general comments/suggestions, please use this contact form.

All of our online forms that require you to enter personal information are designed to meet privacy requirements. This privacy policy provides further details.

The translations are made on a voluntary basis by our partners and are for information only. The legally valid text is in English only.